“And so to put that into perspective, in the same period last year there was only six reports that had been made.”

In one of those cases, a bear even managed to gain entry into a home.

“There was a bear that had managed to get into an unsecured door and access a freezer that was just beyond the door,” Bjordal said.

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WATCH BELOW (Aired May 14, 2019): Black bear climbs to second floor balcony for a snack

0:38Black bear climbs to second floor balcony for a snack

Black bear climbs to second floor balcony for a snack

Luckily, the residents were sleeping upstairs at the time. The bear was gone by the time they made their way downstairs.

Bjordal said it’s difficult to pinpoint a specific reason for the increase in bear activity.

“It may be that there is a small number of bears that, instead of moving through the community, they started having access to attractants, such as garbage and now they’ve started forging in the community for food and they are becoming food conditioned,” she said.